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By Dan WhitcombReuters • Wednesday March 27, 2013 7:40 AM

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge has ordered taped conversations from 1969 between Manson Family
killer Charles “Tex” Watson and his now-dead attorney turned over to Los Angeles police, who are
investigating the cult’s possible involvement in unsolved murders.

The written order by U.S. District Judge Richard Schell in Texas, made public yesterday, upholds
a ruling last year by a federal bankruptcy judge. Watson, serving a life term in a California
prison, said the tapes were protected under attorney-client privilege.

About eight hours of discussions between Watson and his defense attorney Bill Boyd were recorded
in 1969 after Watson was arrested in the Manson Family murder of actress Sharon Tate and others in
Los Angeles.

If Watson does not appeal the ruling within 30 days, Los Angeles police detectives will travel
to Texas to pick up the recordings.

“We’ve got many unsolved homicide cases from that era here in southern California, and we’re
hoping maybe something on these tapes may tie the Manson Family or any of these individuals to one
of those homicides,” Los Angeles police spokesman Andrew Smith said.

Ringleader Charles Manson, now 78, is serving a life sentence at Corcoran State Prison in
California, where another Manson follower has been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle a
cellphone to the cult leader.

Craig Carlisle Hammond, 63, was arrested Sunday on charges of possession of an illegal
communication device, attempting to bring a cellphone into a prison and conspiracy, said Terry
Thornton, a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman.

Hammond is a regular visitor to Manson.

Manson has been caught with a cellphone in his cell twice before. He called people in
California, New Jersey and Florida with an LG flip phone found under his prison bunk in March 2009,
and he was again found with a cellphone on Jan. 6, 2011.